Some say Fantasy Football is just a game.. We strongly disagree.

Leopard’s Letdowns – GW26 Preview -The End is Nigh we Should all Repent

I’m scared about this week. Both of my big gun players don’t have a fixture this week and I’m worried that the likes of Kane, Costa, Hazard etc, will turn up and destroy any hope of challenging for 1st place. I’ve made my two transfers with GW28 in mind, where the FA Cup has absolutely ripped apart the fixtures for that weekend, but it’ll all be for nothing if I lose a significant amount of points in this week. Shit.

The Defence

Fuck off, Ben Foster, I put my faith in you for the last few weeks and you’ve not delivered at all, it’s time for Eldin Jakupovic to get his chance in the Letdowns. Hull are at home against Burnley, who are notorious for being awfulaway from home, so naturally, I have zero faith that Hull will be able to keep a clean sheet as that’s just my luck with these kind of things.

I’ve gone for 4-4-2 this week and the back four is made up of Marcos Alonso (Obviously) at home to Swansea, the Bellend Of The Week for GW25, Winston Reid, who is away at Watford, the Letdown’s new signing, Seamus Coleman, who is at home to Sunderland and finally, we have Fabio away at Crystal Palace.

Given that we have Hull vs Burnley this week, there is an argument to have Stephen Ward of Burnley in my team, but I’m expecting Hull to win. Did I mention that Burnley are shit away?

The fixtures are definitely quite good for the defence, with home fixtures against Swansea, Burnley, Sunderland and away fixtures at Watford and Crystal Palace, but I’m just not convinced. It’s these types of games where both teams will be trying to attack rather than one team attacking and the other defending for their lives. I can maybe see one clean sheet amongst them so that’s what I’m predicting: 14 points.

The Midfield

Christ. I’m having to work with scraps this week with Sanchez not playing. We have Dele Alli at home against Stoke and I need him to deliver a performance like never before. We then have Gylfi Siggurdson away at Chelsea, one of which I’m not expecting any return, but he’s needed for GW28 as Swansea are one of 8 teams playing that week. And now we come to the bottom of the barrel. Tom Davies is starting this week for the Letdowns and I have to hope that he starts at home to Sunderland. He’s started 5 of the last 6 matches so the odds are good and I’m hoping to see a return of his attacking threat as he’ll be given lots of time on the ball and will also have it higher up the pitch. And finally, we have the second transfer of the week, James Morrison, who is at home to Bournemouth. He’s came into his own a little bit at West Brom, providing Fantasy Football managers with 22 points in the last 3 matches and is an absolute bargain at just 4.7m. A serious alternative to Matt Phillips who flatters to deceive, Morrison is delivering and thriving in the no.10 role he’s been given.

Again, the fixtures are good, but they were good in GW25 and how did that help? You can put logic into every decision you make with Fantasy Football, you can look at all the stats, read all the blogs, gather all the information you can to make an informed decision, but the ball will still glance a singular strand of Gareth McAuley’s hair and be ruled his goal. It’s luck that makes or breaks Fantasy Football. So balls to it, I have absolutely no idea how my midfield will do this week, it could be goals galore, it could be bugger all, I’ll just predict a rough estimate of 20 points and see how that does.

The Strikers

Without my marquee player, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, I’m left with two players that are up against each other here, which is just a disaster waiting to happen. If Everton vs Sunderland ends 0-0 then I’m royally fucked. We have Jermaine Defoe of Sunderland and Romelu Lukaku of Everton. Everton can score goals, Sunderland can score goals and also concede lots of goals… I can feel it now, it’s definitely going to be a 0-0. I can feel it.

As much as I’d love to think Lukaku can deliver another huge 4 goal haul (Fuck you FPL for not awarding him an assist as well!), I just can’t be confident. Defoe was dog shit against Southampton but what can you do when you play for Sunderland? Lukaku had some chances against Middlesbrough but just wasn’t clinical. So bugger it, no goals, prediction: 4 points.

Summary

The next 3 game weeks are massive for the season. I have to find a balance between having enough players for GW28 but without packing my team full of players from Swansea, Hull, Burnley, Bournemouth, West Ham and West Brom because ultimately those teams are shit and won’t have any players (Excluding Siggurdson and Heaton) that will be anywhere near the top of the FPL points charts. I just want this season to either kick into life or to just die immediately. I’m getting sick of clutching at the tiny points gains I make in some weeks just to have a shocker in the next and for it all to even back out again. I want to make big gains and to feel like I’m properly back challenging for 1st or to just have a shocker, fall to being 100 points behind and to know that it’s over. I’m getting old you know. All this isn’t good for my health.